Waiting in London's Heathrow Airport for a flight to New York City, Frances Andros (Dame Elizabeth Taylor), seen off by her tycoon husband Paul Andros (Richard Burton), plans to leave him for aging international playboy Marc Champselle (Louis Jourdan). Les Mangrum (Rod Taylor), a self-made Australian businessman traveling with his loyal secretary Miss Mead (Dame Maggie Smith), must be in New York City the following day to arrange the loan that will help him repel a hostile takeover of his tractor company. Max Buda (Orson Welles), a movie mogul travelling with starlet Gloria Gritti (Elsa Martinelli), must get out of England immediately or face ruinous British income tax. The Duchess of Brighton (Dame Margaret Rutherford) has taken a job as a hostess at an American holiday resort, thinking she will be able to keep her family estate on her new income. Fog descends, blurring the future for them all and forcing them to wait in the airport hotel for morning and fair weather.